The board of directors of the Professional Football League (LFP), meeting on Wednesday, affirmed its opposition to Fifa's plan to organize the World Cup every two years, which has provoked an outcry in Europe, has announced the LFP.
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Qualifying rankings for the 2022 World Cup
The 2022 World Cup qualifying calendar
"
The development of football does not pass only through the World Cup but also and above all rests on the domestic championships,
" the French body recalled in a
press
release.
"Its
prior consultation, Fifa wants to take a decision that is in its sole interest and whose impact is irreparably negative for domestic championships and clubs as employers of players,
" she denounced.
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Supported by Arsène Wenger, the idea of Fifa to organize a biennial World Cup, and no longer every four years, has sparked a cascade of criticism in European football but also among representatives of leagues around the world, players and supporters.
But, in France, the president of the French Federation (FFF) Noël Le Graët, a rare discordant voice, let it be known that he had “no opposition” to this project, in an interview with the daily L'Equipe published on the 1st. October.
Overloaded calendars
This is the first time that the board of directors of the LFP, where the president of Paris SG Nasser Al-Khelaïfi sits, has spoken on this flammable subject. "
This project would also provide for the lengthening of international periods which would greatly disrupt the series of domestic championships and provoke the disinterest of the supporters
", explained the LFP, which presented this Wednesday a preliminary calendar for the season 2022-2023, inevitably turned upside down. by the eruption of the 2022 World Cup in the middle of winter.
"
The World Cup constitutes a world heritage which must be preserved and not trivialized
", concluded the League.
The association "European Leagues", which brings together around thirty European championships, including the LFP, but also England, Spain, Italy and Germany, had expressed at the beginning of September its "
firm and unanimous opposition
" to the project defended by Fifa.